MaxLinear takes Silicon Labs to court over 'false allegations'

SAN FRANCISCO—RF and mixed-signal chip vendor MaxLinear Inc. said Monday (May 14) it filed a declaratory judgment complaint against Silicon Laboratories Inc. in U.S. federal court.

MaxLinear (Carlsbad, Calif.) said the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks to obtain a ruling that MaxLinear products such as the MxL301 and MxL601 tuner ICs do not infringe on 19 patents belonging to Silicon Labs. The complaint also seeks a ruling that Silicon Labs patents are invalid, MaxLinear said.

MaxLinear also said the complaint was filed in response to "false allegations" by Silicon Labs to customers about MaxLinear products violating patents held by Silicon Labs.

Kishore Seendripu, CEO of MaxLinear, said through a statement that MaxLinear had requested that Silicon Labs "refrain from making these false and damaging allegations" to customers. MaxLinear also requested that Silicon Labs provide a factual basis for the infringement allegations.

"Instead, they [Silicon Labs] have continued to threaten our customers with false allegations of patent infringement in hopes of disrupting customer relationships and hiding the fact that their products cannot match the performance of MaxLinear products, such as the MxL601," Seendripu said.

Silicon Labs (Austin, Texas) released a statement of its own Monday saying it has not yet received the official complaint filed by MaxLinear in U.S. District Court. Silicon Labs, which claims an extensive patent portfolio of more than 200 patents in RF-related technologies, said it would determine its response to MaxLinear's complaint after reviewing it.